Port Kavkaz

Port Kavkaz is a Russian port facility on the Chushka Spit at the Kerch Strait, the narrow channel separating the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai from Crimea. It serves as the departure point for the Kerch ferry crossing, a critical logistics link for troops, fuel, and heavy equipment moving between mainland Russia and the occupied peninsula. The port predates the Kerch Strait Bridge and retained operational importance as an alternative crossing point after the bridge opened in 2018; its role grew further after Ukraine damaged the bridge in 2022 and 2023, forcing a greater share of logistical traffic back onto the ferry route.

Ukrainian drones first struck Port Kavkaz on the night of 14 March 2026 as part of a wider campaign to interdict Russia's southern supply lines, alongside simultaneous hits on the Afipsky refinery and the Tikhoretsk pumping station in Krasnodar Krai. On 20 June 2026, the same strike wave that targeted the Kapotnya and Tyumen refineries also hit the Kavkaz port petroleum complex, a Black Sea crude and oil-product export terminal, widening Ukraine's campaign from refineries to export-handling infrastructure.

Striking both the Kerch Bridge and Port Kavkaz forces Russia to manage two concurrent logistical vulnerabilities, eliminating the redundancy each provides when the other is damaged. The June 2026 strike on the petroleum complex adds an oil-export dimension to a target previously associated purely with ferry logistics.